Trial date set in lawsuit over Arkansas oil spill

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A federal judge has set a January 2015 trial date for a lawsuit over an ExxonMobil oil spill.

U.S. District Judge Brian Miller on Monday issued an order saying the trial will begin during the first week of the year. He said the trial will be decided by a jury of 12, unless both sides agree to a jury of six.

The lawsuit by asks for unspecified damages because of nuisance and diminished value to property as a result of a March 29 oil spill. The company's Pegasus pipeline burst and sent thousands of gallons of oil into a neighborhood in Mayflower - about 25 miles north of Little Rock.

The company has said a manufacturing defect in the 64-year-old pipeline caused it to burst.

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